Fly screen



June 5, 1934. A. F. NYE Er AL FLY' SCREEN Filed Aug. 23, 1933 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 11v VENTO Rs mm June 5, 1934. A F NYE ET AL 1,961,383

FLY-SCREEN I Filed Aug. 23, 1933 s Sheets-Sheet 3 Patented June 5, W34

FLY scnaEN Alvin 1F. Nye, Rochester,

East Rochester, IN. Y.,

and Harry B. Lawson, assignors to Fli- Bac Products @orporation, Rochester, N. Y., a corporation of New York ipplication August 23, 1933, Serial No. 686,406 3 Qlaiins. (Cl. 156-14) Our present invention relates to buildingequipment and more particularly to fiy screens adapted to be applied to or inserted in window and door frames to exclude flies and other insects, and it has for its object to provide an improved screen of the frameless type that may be manufactured at low cost; that may be readily affixed to window frames and similar openings by relatively unskilled persons; that may be drawn flat across the opening with little effort and which may be folded into small compass for the purposes of storage and shipping. The improvements are directed in part toward particular devices for attaching a flexible screen strip at the top and bottom of a window frame and toward means located at oneend of the strip for stretching .the screen and drawing it close to the frame at all points, including the window sill, so that marginal openings will not be left even though the-frame, through warpage or settling, is slightly out of true. To'these and other ends, the invention resides in certain improvements and combinations of parts, all as will be hereinafter more fully described, the novel features being pointed out in the claims at the. end of this specification.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is an elevation of a window frame fitted with a screen. constructed in accordance with and illustrating one embodiment of our invention, the same being viewed from the interior;

Fig. 2 is an elevation thereof viewed from the exterior, with intermediate portions largely broken away; I

Fig. 3 is an enlarged vertical section through the frame and screen taken on the lines 3-3 of Figs. 1 and 2, with intermediate portions broken away;

Fig. 4 is a repetition of the showing of the lower half of. Fig. 3, but with the parts in another position;

Fig. 5 is an enlargement of the showing of the lower portion of Fig. l, partly invertical section through the lower rail and part of the frame, but showing the parts in different positions of adjustment;

Fig. 6 is a horizontal section taken substantially on the line 6-6 of Fig. 5;

Fig. 7 is a further enlarged detail perspective view of one of the fastening devices of the lower rail, and

Fig. 8 is a similarly enlarged perspective view, in detail, of one of the screen tensioning plates.

Similar reference numerals throughout the several views indicate .the same parts.

To first give a. general idea of the majorelements of the screen and its mode of use, a flexible strip of preferably metal fly screen of approximately the size ofthe window opening is provided at top and bottom with transverse rigid rails, to which these edges are bound. The upper rail is detachably fastened to the upper part of the window frame by means of devices ,operable from the inside and the lower rail is similarly fastened to the window sill, the loose lateral edges lying againstthe outer faces of the usual blind stops on the frame. The lower rail is duplex, being composed of two relatively vertically sliding parts, the upper one being directly connected to the strip and the lower one locked to the sill as aforesaid. Means also operable from the inside are provided for forcibly moving the parts relatively, whereby the strip is placed under tension and drawn taut so that it is not only neat and pleasing in appearance but is caused to hug in a fly-tight manner the blind stops at the sides. When not in use the screen strip may thus be rolled up in the manner of a window shadeand quantities of them stored in a relatively small space. v

Referring more particularly, to the drawings, 1 indicates, conventionally, a window frame or similar opening, 2 the top rail thereof, 3 the sill and.4 the usual blind stops set in at the sides. The screen referredto is indicated at 5, the top rail at 6 and the duplex bottom rail, generally,

at 7. The structure of the top rail 6, best shown in Fig. 3, comprises a fiat body portion with a short downward flange 8 on its inner edge and a longer flange 9 on its outer edge. This flange 9 is doubled upon itself, as shown, and the upper end of the screen strip 5 is crimped into the fold into whichits turned edge is introduced to secure it'firmly against longitudinal tension. Two screws or similar headed projections are secured in the upper rail 2 at 10- and project through openings in the rail which carries adjacent thereto in each instance a headed guide pin 11. Sliding on these guide pins are bolts 12 having downwardly turned 'finger pieces 13 .for convenient manual manipulation, which bolts are further guided by the flanges 8. They have bifurcated ends that slip beneath the heads of the projections 10 on the inner face 'of the rail and headed projections in the sill, Figs. and

2 p reference to the window frame. Member 14 is L-shaped, the base flange thereof resting on the sill 3 and itself having a flange 16, in which respect it is a duplication of the top rail 6, and the member 14 is secured to the sill in exactly the .same manner as the upper rail is secured. In

fact, these fasteners are drawings in connection with I at 19, the headed guide pins at 20, the finger pieces at 21 and the bifurcated end of the boltin each instance that engages the headed projection at 22.

The longer vertical portion of the anchoring rail 14 is slotted at 23 and provided at its upper edge with a flange 24 forming a guide for the upper edges of two tensioning plates 25, the lower edges of which react against the bottom flange 14, which plates are slidable toward and from each other, such first mentioned movement being limited by a, common headed stop pin 26 I that the platesare notched at 2'! to engage. The plates 25 are provided with reversely inclined diagonal slots 28, in which ride headed pins 29 fixed on the binding rail 15 and extending through the slots 23. This binding rail is also" shown in the form of a vertical plate, the upper edge of which is'doubled over at 30 to secure the lower edge of the screen strip 5 in the identical manner that it is secured at. 9 to the top rail, but an intermediate portion of the plate is doubled in a loop to..provide a horizontal inwardly projecting ledge 31, by means of which -the whole lower structure may be manipulated or pressure applied with the flnger tips to assist the opera.- tion of the mechanical tensioning means.

The operation of this latter is apparent. -Inwardly projecting finger pieces 32 are provided on the proximate ends of the sliding plates 25 and when the latter are spread by means of these, as in Fig. 1, they exert a cam action on the pins 29, forcing them downwardly and hence drawing down the binding rail 15 to stretch the screen strip 5 tightly against the blind stops 4 in an insect-tight manner. When, reversely, they are pinched together, they corresponding-.- ly raise the binding rail 15;, relaxing the tension so that the bolts 19 may be manipulated with freedom and without strain to be engaged with or disengaged from the anchoring projections 1'7 on the sill. Of course, the upper rail 6 is fastened first, usually, in applying the screen to the window frame and the tension is removed 1,ee1,ass

sill piece, a binding rail secured strip to the sill piece below when the upper bolts are drawn for removal from the frame, after which, as before stated, the screen may be rolled up on either rail and put away.

We claim as our invention:

1. In a frameless fly screen for framed window. openings, in combination a screen strip closing the opening, means for securing the upper end of the strip to the top of the frame, and means for fastening the lower end of the strip to the I sill piece of the frame embodying an anchoring rail, releasable devices interlocking it with the to the strip and movable vertically, on the anchoring. rail and means for drawing the binding rail forcibly downwardly on the anchoring rail.

2. In a frameless fly screen for framed window openings, in combination a screen strip closing the opening, means for fastening the upper end of the strip to the top of the frame, and means for fastening the lower end of the strip to the sill piece of the frame embodying an anchoring rail, releasable devices interlocking it with the sill piece, a binding rail secured to the strip and movable vertically on the anchoring rail and means for drawing the binding rail forcibly downwardly on the anchoring rail, said last mentioned means embodying a projection on one of the rails and a sliding plate on the other having an inclined slot in which the projection rides, the latter rail being vertically slotted to admit the projection.

-3.- In a frameless fly screen for framed window openings, in combination a screen stripclosing the opening, means for fastening the upper end of the strip to'the top of the frame, and means for fastening the lower endof the of the frame embodying an anchoring rail comprising a vertically disposed flanged plate having vertical slots therein, releasable devices interlocking it with the sill piece, a binding rail secured to the strip and comprising a plate disposed against the anchoring rail plate and having headed guides projecting through the slots therein and screen tensioning slides movable toward and from each other on the flange of the anchoringrail plate and having inclined slots in which the headed projections ride, said sliding plates being provided with inwardly projecting finger pieces by means of whichthey maybe drawn together or spread apart. 

